Jefferson took the bag from the smiling waitress. He thought she'd be too awkward to keep attending to him. But here she was, with a smile brighter than before, and seemingly more brazen.
She laid down his bag of kisses together with a cup of coffee he didn't ask.
"Please stay a bit more, my pause is three minutes away. Maybe we can talk over a cup of coffee little?"
Jefferson raised his eyebrows and smiled "I'm flattered, but unless you have some kind of business with me, I have to go." He gulped down the coffee and laid the money down on the table. But the waitress suddenly sat in front of him.
"Did three minutes passed?"
"No. Am I a bad girl now?" The blush spread to her necks and ears. she could barely keep eyes contact.
He smiled and waited. Although his eyes were gentle, and his smile welcoming, his hands didn't let go of the bags nor he put the car key on the table.
'I-I-" She rearranged her uniform after taking a breath."I'll leave work by noon, let's go ou-"
"It was a pleasure to meet you." He got up and walked away without looking back
A hand grabbed his shirt. He turned around with stern eyes.
"I-I, p-please, I"ll do anything, we can get to a motel right after a meal or a movie. but, please, I-I don't have much to live, and my family wants to push me around and get the most benefit out of it" The girl's eyes opened but she didn't cry. "I just want a date, something real for once. I-I saw your face and felt that it had to be you."
Jefferson eyes never changed. The girl was slim. Her uniform was a dress and she had long curled back hair. She was beautiful than most, without a doubt, and there wasn't anything you could criticize her for, appearance wise.
Suddenly two other images of himself appeared out of thin air. The elite-looking him with golden eyes stared at the girl for an instant and snorted.
"This kind of thing, Throwing herself this way, even if her words are true. this puts her worth on the bottom of the well. She's not worth attention."
The other him with obsidian eyes and unkempt manner cackled.
"Why not? the man is pent up, and this girl is clearly clean. Take her to a walk around the park and do the did. Later just wash the guilt away in a bathroom sink, and get on with the day."
Jefferson didn't alk. The girl waited for his words while looking a the ground, that's why she didn't see his eyes trembling.
'They only appeared on my worst nights and when I'm drunk, but what's this?' He looked on as his pride and depression debated.
Jefferson closed his eyes. for five seconds. Then they were gone.
"I can't trust you."He said to the girl. Her eyes went lifeless.
He wrote a cellphone number on a napkin and put it together with the money o the table.
"But if your words are true, this place can make you disappear for anywhere you want. Although you'll still die in the end, at least your family won't control you. Moneywise, they'll just put it in my tab so, don't mind that."
No more words were said. He entered the Audi and went away. 'I did enough.' He thought. If she's lying, it won't matter. But if its truth, then he helped someone. And his bank account won't even be scratched by that amount of money. There wasn't a loss.
Then the image of his two other self came to his mind. 'I'm really screwed up aren't I?'
The car's radio changed. Urgent news took every channel.
By the time he parked the car in front of the house. The news had ended.
First was an urgent warning. That since the morning event. People started to awaken abilities. The streets would be flooded with heavily armed personnel. To prevent any incident.
Then they explained how that ed crystal worked and what it represented. it as what Jefferson already knew. But then other news took place.
The news was of P1city. It spoke happily about the place. As if it were paradise. A city built with sturdy and safe roots. With rich resources, quality education, healthcare, employment, they propagandized the city as a holy land. They offered a place for the well-off and rich, but for the poor, they were given a 'chance' they could prove themselves academically and find residence there, or they could enlist to serve the army for five years And gain twenty years of paid residence there and a citizen id. Anyone, from seventeen to thirty, could enlist.
Jefferson's eyes were somber, his muscles tensed up his breathing was rough. Without moving from the car, he calmly took out his cellphone, searched for "Old man Reis" in the contacts and made the call.
On P1City old man Reis that was still on his office, saw the call and sighed. He picked up the call and spoke before the other side could."It's my job."
"Baiting desperate people into their death. Is that your job?" Jefferson answered.
The old man's eyes hardened. "No, my job is to choose the best course of action. And as those of old did before in times of crisis, I'm using all the resources available. Only, this time, the resources are people."
Inside the car, Jefferson let out his twisted ugly grin. "You weren't offering me a job because of my merit. You were recruiting me."
After a pause, Reis spoke, "No, that was a sincere gif-"
"If you don't say it all loud, I will find some job at McDonald's, or starve to death, but won't be going to P1 city."
Reis sighed. The way this freak cares for his words is absurd. So he just opened his mouth
"You're one of the last defense lines. you'll work as you want inside the city, but in the event, something goes wrong, and the city's threatened, someone has to be there to protect it. And I know you'll act regardless-"
The call was cut short.
Jefferson felt his heart accelerating, his chest was heaving, the essence Léo inserted on him was acting, influencing him. the veins in his eyes shone red. He rested his hands on the wheel and breathed in and out repeatedly.
His cellphone rang he looked at it.
A photo of a humanoid monster, two meters in height. He was green. his body was muscular, but not oversized.
[This made contact with a common hunter cell of ours a week ago. That group of five died, without doing it harm. Another group of five came, they were awakened this time, but they all died.
Machine guns tickled it .50 caliber weapons did no damage besides holding it back. It took two shots of .155 cannon bullets to kill it. The first shot was slapped away with the machete you see beside it. But the weapon fell from its hands so the second bullet tore through his arms and lodged itself inside his destroyed chest. We don't know if this is an Orc, Ogre, or goblin. But nonetheless, they are closer than we think, that's why. we need people. As a professor, everyone will depend on you to teach these kids right. So we can all survive this.